A Christian’s Plea for Civil Discourse

This is an interesting perspective on discourse between believers and nonbelievers…Two counterpoints I would make 1. I VERY much disagree with the fundamentalist’s perspective. I believe everyone is on a different journey of faith but HATRED disguised as gospel or LOVE is WRONG. Period, end of story. SO that’s another Christian pastor preaching against hate and fundamentalism (going to school at an extremely liberal school I had to plead with my fellow students that the God fundamentalists talked about was nothing like my God and please don’t be offended by my faith and love, which hopefully are a better way of being). My second problem is 2. Jesus was against crazy religious leaders too, as was Eli, and a Isaiah, Moses and Aaron certainly took the crazies down a peg. Yes there is some language (particularly in Deuteronomy and the Pauline language) that I disagree with, strongly…..but I focus on what I DO agree with. I use my mind and my relationship with God to discern what is right. God gave me a brain so I can use it. I also know (which the author probably doesn’t) of the GROSS mistranslations that exist ALL over the Bible, clearing up some of what is read as hatred ex: Sodom and Gromorrah was against Gang Rape<—-who doesn't agree with that! That being said, I am Reblogging this! Let the discourse begin!

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rachel-held-evansCNN’s Belief Blog posted a short article yesterday by Rachel Held Evans calling for atheists to avoid using the worst of Christian extremism in their critiques against Christianity, offering to return the favor by not doing the same in reverse against atheists. Evans is a favorite Christian writer of mine for the simple reason that she speaks prophetically to the Christian church as an insider. By speaking “prophetically” I mean that she openly speaks up when she sees her friends and fellow Christians saying and doing things which she feels are contrary to the faith, no matter how important or influential those people may be. She holds the professors of her faith accountable to the ideals she feels are central; and those ideals are, in my opinion, some of the better tenets of the Christian faith. Incidentally, those elements which I find praiseworthy are the same principles which can be…

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Author: katyandtheword

Pastor Katy has enjoyed ministry at New Covenant since 2010, where the church has solidified its community focus. She now works at Capital CFO plus as the Non Profit Director. All opinions expressed on this blog are her own and do not reflect those of Capital CFO plus. Prior to that she studied both Theology and Christian Formation at Princeton Theological Seminary. She also served as an Assistant Chaplain at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and as the Christian Educational Coordinator at Bethany Presbyterian at Bloomfield, NJ. She is an writer and is published in Enfleshed, Sermonsuite, Presbyterian's today and Outlook. She writes prayers, liturgy, poems and public theology and is pursuing her doctorate in ministry in Creative Write and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She enjoys working within and connecting to the community, is known to laugh a lot during service, and tells as many stories as possible. Pastor Katy loves reading Science Fiction and Fantasy, theater, arts and crafts, music, playing with children and sunshine, and continues to try to be as (w)holistically Christian as possible. "Publisher after publisher turned down A Wrinkle in Time," L'Engle wrote, "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was too difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adult's book, anyhow?" The next year it won the prestigious John Newbery Medal. Tolkien states in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings that he disliked allegories and that the story was not one.[66] Instead he preferred what he termed "applicability", the freedom of the reader to interpret the work in the light of his or her own life and times.

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